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Bipartisan Mission to End Sexual Violence Confronts Rape Kit Backlog

Across the United States, tens of thousands of rape kits sit on shelves, awaiting DNA testing. Each kit bears evidence from a sexual assault, and represents the trust each victim placed in our criminal justice system. Every day that goes by with no action taken denies a survivor justice, tens of thousands of time over, and allows the cycle of sexual violence to continue.

This national backlog in rape kit testing can be attributed to three things: a lack of education surrounding all aspects of sexual assault; a lack understanding of the importance of DNA testing in stopping serial rapists; and a lack of resources at the local and county levels at the frontlines of crime.

It’s important to point out that the number of backlogged rape kits by no means represents how many rapes are committed across the United States. Assaults too often go unreported due to retraumatizing societal victim-blaming that survivors often encounter when speaking out—not to mention the discouraging failures of justice systems to hold perpetrators accountable even when they are prosecuted in high-profile cases.

In recent years, a growing movement of advocates, local- to state-level lawmakers and law enforcement bodies, as well as health care professionals, have been working together to change this landscape. With the support of federal grants, they are tackling the rape kit backlog as a critical component of the larger battle against the epidemic of sexual assault. And federal decision makers are joining their ranks: In April, a bipartisan group of Congress members launched the Bipartisan Task Force to End Sexual Violence. On June 16, they held their first roundtable hearing focusing on the national rape kit backlog, as well as access to sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs).

The four task force co-chairs spoke to the gravity of their mission in the roundtable opening statements:

“I was assaulted. I didn’t tell anyone any of these stories for forty years. I didn’t tell my husband, I didn’t tell my sons, I didn’t tell my own family and the reason, I now understand, is because I thought it was my fault. It’s taken me forty years to understand that it certainly was not.”

– Representative Annie Kuster (NH-D)

“There is really nothing more dehumanizing than [going] through the crime of being sexually assaulted.”

– Representative Patrick Meehan (PA-R)

“There is no clearer demonstration of our country’s lack of regard for survivors than ignoring the growing backlog of sexual assault cases.”

– Representative Jackie Speier (CA-D)

“These [rape] kits represent victims. Victims who are still waiting for justice.”

– Representative David Joyce (OH-R)

This bipartisan task force begins its work at a time when ever-escalating polarization has seemingly come to define the current political climate in the United States.

But as Representative Kuster told me in a phone interview, the outpouring of support for the bipartisan initiative to confront sexual violence has been unprecedented: “We’ve had thirty-four members join [the task force] since we launched—half Republican, half Democratic, and we expect to grow substantially.” Kuster continued, bringing up a staff briefing they held on the University of New Hampshire’s evidence-based initiatives combating sexual assault with bystander prevention techniques. “One hundred staffers attended… So I think that speaks for itself in terms of the interest on this issue.”

The task force galvanized this attention to sexual violence on the Hill by bringing together roundtable panelists with diverse backgrounds in advocacy, criminal justice, and health care. This interdisciplinary approach—in addition to transcending partisanship—is a clear break from typically flawed, siloed efforts to confront sexual assault. That varied expertise are being thoroughly weighed by lawmakers on the national stage begins to chip away at the progress that must be made.

The National Rape Kit Backlog

In 2010, there were no state laws on rape kits in the United States. Now, thirty states have some form of rape kit reform legislation requiring varying degrees of audits or testing of the kits. But only eight states have laws that require current and backlogged kits to be tested. Roundtable panelist Mariska Hargitay, actress and founder of the Joyful Heart Foundation, began her opening remarks by emphasizing the dire nature of the national rape kit backlog. She addressed the co-chairs of the Task Force: “By elevating this issue, you are sending a powerful message to survivors of sexual assault that their cases matter.”

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Addressing the Revictimization of Rape Victims

“My victimization was three-part,” explained panelist Lavinia Masters, a survivor and advocate. The first was her rape. The second was negative, insensitive experiences with both the police and the nurses in the hospital. And the third was finding out—twenty years later—that her rape kit was still sitting on a shelf.

Nathan James, a Congressional Research Service crime policy analyst, testified at the roundtable that, in addition to programs aimed at reducing the rape kit backlog, DOJ has been working to address the multifaceted system sexual assault survivors must navigate in seeking justice. Specifically, DOJ has programs to increase access to SANEs, develop evidence tracking systems, and train law enforcement on sexual assault investigations.

Improving the Health Care Response

Sexual assault nurse examiners are a critical component of the health care response to a rape. These forensic nurses have undergone specialized training not only for collecting evidence from sexual assault victims, but also for helping them access services such as counseling, emergency contraception, testing for transmitted infections, and other medical services. As panelist Jennifer Markowitz, government affairs committee chair for the International Association of Forensic Nurses noted, not only do SANEs improve the quality of care so that victims are not retraumatized upon hospital admission, but they also directly correlate with increased prosecution rates of perpetrators. But currently, only 17 percent of hospitals across the United States have SANEs on staff—even Level 1 and Level 2 trauma centers. In realizing solutions to these problems, Markowitz begged the critical reminder that “Sexual violence is a public health care issue.”

“Sexual violence is a public health care issue.”

Representative Kuster noted to me that the task force is planning to recommend potential funding to encourage SANEs at all Level 1 and Level 2 trauma centers. As a representative of a rural district in New Hampshire, she expressed particular interest in solutions such as the DOJ-funded National TeleNursing Center based out of Massachusetts, which connects SANE nurses with licensed providers across the country.

Enhancing Evidence Procedures Leads to More Convictions

Michael O’Malley, a prosecutor, and Richard Bell, a Special Investigations Division chief, both for Cuyahoga County, Ohio, testified at the roundtable about the effort their county embarked on after receiving a DOJ grant in 2009 geared toward tracking and using DNA evidence in their investigations. The case study demonstrates the kind of criminal justice strides that can be made when law enforcement entities have the resources they need.

When Cuyahoga County’s initiative began, they had 5,000 rape kits (and evidence from another 6,700 assault cases) sitting on shelves. Since then, they have processed 3,700 cases, working alongside partners from the state attorney general’s office, the county sheriff’s office, the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, and local police forces. From these cases, they have indicted 595 separate unique offenders, with sentences averaging more than ten years. Because Ohio had at the time a twenty-year statute of limitations in place (now twenty-five years, with DNA evidence), they tackled their oldest cases first—and now concentrate on cases involving serial sex offenders who are either out on the streets or are due to be released from prison within a year.

Bell noted a 2011 Ohio law mandating that all arrestees be swabbed to collect DNA evidence. (He later explained that if an arrestee was exonerated, his or her DNA would be expunged from state records.) This law provided critical evidence for their efforts: out of 6,700 cases being investigated, DNA evidence proved thus far that at least 670 defendants were serial sex offenders—and eighty-six of them had been involved in both acquaintance and stranger rapes.

Out of 6,700 cases being investigated, DNA evidence proved thus far that at least 670 defendants were serial sex offenders—and eighty-six of them had been involved in both acquaintance and stranger rapes.

Bell believes that, with a greater recognition among local police forces that people people who rape acquaintances also rape strangers, more rape kits will get DNA testing and more cases can be solved. As he explained, the problem with past thinking was that, if the victim knew who the assailant was, then prosecutors and police would not get the kits tested, because the assailant’s identity was already known. In their minds, the case was “solved”—the only issue remaining was a lack of consent. But as Bell points out: “When you test all kits, you can actually . . . solve the stranger cases because when you look into the police reports on the other [acquaintance] rape cases, and you see the name. That’s important.”

Keeping a National Spotlight on Sexual Assault

Representative Kuster indicated that, in the coming months, the task force will hold roundtables on both online sexual harassment and sexual assault on college campuses. The latter topic will build on awareness fostered at the federal level through action such as former President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden’s It’s On Us campaign and the 2013 Campus Sexual Violence Elimination (Campus SaVE) Act (which amended the Clery Act).

And the education can’t be limited to college campuses: As was brought up by Representative Debbie Dingell (D-MI) at the roundtable, sexual assault begins earlier than most communities realize: “I was at a Town Hall and a young eighth-grade male came up to me and said, ‘They need to start to educate us in grade school.’”

The crux of the issue is that in order for normative change to happen so that societally, the United States can eradicate sexual violence that disparately targets women, all genders must be involved. And education on the issues brought up by the task force is a logical place to start—urgently. As Representative Kuster later put it, “The vast majority… of men can be the solution. They can get involved in bystander intervention, changing the norms, changing our view on the topic. But [so long as] there are any predators still out there, all women are at risk.”